US President Trump tweeted on Saturday morning that Germany owed a large debt for the protection of the US.

“Despite what you have heard from the FAKE NEWS, I had a GREAT meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel Nevertheless, Germany owes vast sums of money to NATO & the United States must be paid more for the powerful, and very expensive, defense it provides to Germany!” he wrote in two Twitter posts sent 8 minutes apart. …

He thanked Merkel for Germany’s commitment to increase its NATO contributions to 2 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) from the current 1.2 percent, but said it was “very unfair to the United States” for European allies to take advantage of US defense spending.

That poster is correct. Once the Europeans spend more on their military, they will be less and less inclined to follow directions from the USA.

On other international matters, the G20 conference is going on in Germany, and the Trump Administration has greatly affected it:

March 18, 2017

The world’s financial leaders failed to reach a compromise deal to endorse free trade on Saturday, backtracking on past commitments to keep trade open and reject protectionism, the communique of G20 finance ministers and central bankers showed. …

In the new U.S. administration’s biggest clash yet with the international community, G20 finance chiefs also walked back on a pledge to support climate change finance, an anticipated outcome after U.S President Donald Trump called climate change a “hoax”.

Speaking on the sidelines of the meeting, delegates said that the U.S. was holding out on key issues, unwilling to compromise and essentially torpedoing a deal as it requires all members to sign up.

I warned previously that Donald Trump’s stance on climate control would offend the Europeans.

Some believe that Donald Trump’s policies will result in China leading the world. Notice something a reader sent me from Fareed Zakaria:

Trump prepares to pass the world leadership baton to China

March 16, 2017

We do not yet have the official agenda for next month’s meeting in Florida between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. But after 75 years of U.S. leadership on the world stage, the Mar-a-Lago summit might mark the beginning of a handover of power from the United States to China. Trump has embraced a policy of retreat from the world, opening a space that will be eagerly filled by the Communist Party of China. …

The Trump administration’s vision for disengagement from the world is a godsend for China. Look at Trump’s proposed budget, which would cut spending on “soft power” — diplomacy, foreign aid, international organizations — by 28 percent. Beijing, by contrast, has quadrupled the budget of its foreign ministry in the past decade. …

China’s growing diplomatic strength matters. An Asian head of government recently told me that at every regional conference, “Washington sends a couple of diplomats, whereas Beijing sends dozens. The Chinese are there at every committee meeting, and you are not.” The result, he said, is that Beijing is increasingly setting the Asian agenda.

The Trump administration wants to skimp on U.S. funding for the United Nations. This is music to Chinese ears. Beijing has been trying to gain influence in the global body for years. It has increased its funding for the U.N. across the board and would likely be delighted to pick up the slack as the United States withdraws. …

While China is interested in world domination, others are concerned about it. Notice the following:

17 March 2017

China may not be the EU’s answer to US protectionism

There is currently tension in the triangle of globalization powerhouses as the EU, US and China try to maintain cooperative growth amid US protectionism and Chinese ambition. …

Last year, China surpassed the US as Germany’s largest trading partner.

The uncertainty at the G20 and the handshaking between Berlin and Beijing are in response to an anticipated US turn to protectionism under President Donald Trump’s “America First” economic rhetoric and statements from Trump threatening import duties on Chinese and German goods.

In February, Reuters reported that the EU was preparing an “early” summit in April or May with China to “promote free trade and international cooperation” in the face of protectionism from Washington. The report suggests that China wants to reemphasize President Xi Jinping’s performance at the World Economic Forum in Davos where he championed China as a bastion of globalization.

But behind diplomatic assurances of cooperation and open markets between China and the EU vis á vis a new tone in Washington, the US and the EU share concerns that if China becomes the leader in key global industries, they will able to form their own protectionist policies and cut out western companies in favor of domestic enterprises. http://www.dw.com/en/china-may-not-be-the-eus-answer-to-us-protectionism/a-37999849

Europe does not want China to control the world. Blaming Donald Trump’s election, an article in Der Spiegel says Europe should lead the world:

America Has Abdicated Its Leadership of the West

14 November 2016

For 100 years, the United States was the leader of the free world. With the election of Donald Trump, America has now abdicated that role. It is time for Europe, and Angela Merkel, to step into the void.

Even history sometimes leans toward pathos. In January 2017, when Donald Trump is sworn in as the 45th president of the United States, the American Age will celebrate its 100th birthday — and its funeral.

The West was constituted in its modern form in January 1917. World War I was raging in Europe at the time and in Washington, D.C., President Woodrow Wilson told his country that it was time for Americans to take responsibility for “peace and justice.” In April he said: “The world must be made safe for democracy.” He declared war on Germany and sent soldiers to Europe to secure victory for the Western democracies — and the United States assumed the leadership of the Western world. It was an early phase of political globalization.

One hundred years later: Trump. …

What will happen to the West, to Europe, to Germany without the United States as its leading power? Germany is a child of the West, particularly of the United States, brought to life with American generosity, long spoon-fed and now in a deep state of shock. The American president was always simultaneously our president, at least a little, and Barack Obama was a worthy president of the West. Now, though, we must come to terms with a lack of Western leadership. …

Notice that is stating that if Donald Trump keeps his promises, it will be Europe’s turn to lead the West. Well, with Donald Trump attempting to make good on his promises related to trade, NATO, and climate change, more in Europe will have that view.

I wrote an article some time ago titled: Who is the King of the West?. Well Germany recognizes it was the USA, but now it thinks that this situation has changed with the election of Donald Trump.

Despite Der Spiegel‘s wording, the Bible shows that Europe will rise up to lead much of the world–while China will cooperate, for a time, with Europe–it is Europe that will end up dominating the world for a time.

This does not mean that China will not have any influence–only that it will NOT be the dominant economic power that it wants to be. But China is likely to be one of the nations to become wealthier by trading with the end time European power connected with Mystery Babylon the Great (Revelation 17:1-5), until it falls (Revelation 18:1-3).

With the G20 this year, the globalists have had an apparent setback in their move towards a one-world human-led government. But the presence of Donald Trump’s Administration will galvanize many of them to conclude that they must have something without the USA!

Expect some globalist victories, with also some difficulties, over the next several years. But the type of human-government they are pushing for, and will get, will be dominated by Europe. Yet, it will be destroyed and replaced after the return of Jesus (Revelation 11:5; 19:11-21).